Confusing New Lunch Menus

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We have just returned from Arcadia, where we were the first (or so they told us) to be given the new lunchtime menu in the main dining room.

The food hasn’t really changed that much, but the presentation of the menu certainly has - and it’s very confusing.

Gone are the simple, and logical, headings of starter, main course and dessert. Now items are randomly placed across the menu under various headings and it is pot luck as to whether you end up with a starter or main course, cold or hot meal.

The headings of ‘small plates’ and ‘large plates’ may seem like a clue, but I ordered a ‘large plate’ meal that I thought was a hot meal with roast chicken - and I ended up with cubes of cold chicken in a salad! There are ‘Healthy Options’ but, again, no clue as to which are starter size and which are main courses!

Some items are now shown as ‘sharing’ items for two. Needless to say, many people are asking for those items as a portion for one. Why the complication?

A 3 course ‘Express Lunch’ of a pre-selection from the menu is one option. A waiter told me that you are meant to be able to be in and out of the restaurant in 30 minutes if you choose it. Of course, the menu doesn’t tell you that!

We were given cards and asked to comment on the new menus. We duly completed it, saying that it was unnecessarily confusing and should revert to starter, main course and dessert.

Towards the end of the cruise, we overheard a number of other passengers complaining about how confusing it was and the waiter responded saying that customer feedback was that passengers preferred the new format.

I suspect that this falls into the usual P&O modus operandi of introducing something that works for them, doesn’t work for the customer and then fend off all complaints by saying that it is ‘in response to customer feedback’.

As an aside, out of 15 P&O cruises we have done, this was the first cruise where we haven’t enjoyed the main dining room experience. Tables were too close together, tables for four were too small, the restaurant layout means that a large proportion of tables are in a thoroughfare, the waiting staff seemed disengaged and unhappy. The food was fine, but the experience wasn’t enjoyable. We were glad to have booked a suite as we were able to have breakfast in Sindhu and we enjoyed two evening meals in Ocean Grill and another in Sindhu, but the main dining room was disappointing.

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Hi....I am of the mindset of " If it ain't broken why fix it" ...so many companies now think that if it has been around for a number of years....and worked perfectly fine....then it needs to be " updated". This looks like it could fall into this category. The " new & improved" menu probably isn't new and from what you say isn't improved.If we just meekly accept these changes then nothing happens but if we all start demanding a menu....the " oldstyle" menu.... that we can actually understand then....possibly....the message will get through and the powers that be will have a rethink.

Sorry, I should have stated that this was our first cruise on Arcadia. We have now cruised on every ship in the P&O fleet, hence the unfavorable comparison. The tables for 4 were either small squares that were also used for two's, or small oval shapes that were too big for two but too small for four!